Shower Pan is Finished!

Finally! I'm making steady progress again!

Saturday was a bit of a slow day because I wanted to actually mud the shower pan, but unforeseen difficulties with the shower curb slowed things down a bit. More on that later. I started off getting the shower liner measured and cut. I think I bought a 6'x6'ish sheet of the liner and only needed about 5'x4'. As luck would have it, the leftover plywood I had from making the shower's subfloor was 5'x4' exactly, so it made the perfect template! After I got the liner cut and nailed into place, I installed the second piece of the shower drain that locks the liner in place and allows water to drain if it reaches the liner. Now for the fun part. I had to make the decision about the curb. I couldn't use the assembly I got from the Tile Shop because of how my shower floor is elevated from the rest of the bathroom floor. (See my post from Mar 5th) So, I had to improvise! I decided I'd make the curb myself out of wood. I knew that this needed to be a hefty chunk of lumber so I figured a couple 2x8s and a 2x6 (to accommodate the raised subfloor) would work.

So I cut the lumber to length, positioned it in the place it'd actually be sitting to ensure a perfect fit, and glued 'n screwed it together with 3 inch decking screws and liquid nails! By that time, I had a 4' long, 8" tall, and 4.5" thick piece of wood. Now I just had to figure out how I was going to cut the top of the curb to size with a slight pitch toward the shower. At first, this didn't seem like it'd be a problem. Then I realized..."Crap, I don't have a big enough saw to cut this whole thing!" The thickest my circular saw can cut is something like 3 inches and my table saw will only do a little more than that, but neither will cut 4.5 inches! So, I had to improvise on my improvisation. I cut 2/3 of the way with the tablesaw at a slight angle. I then cut the rest with my circular saw! I blew a 20 amp fuse in the shed's fuse box (and yes I mean FUSE box) with the tablesaw but I'd say it turned out alright after all. I thought I'd blown the motor on the tablesaw! I mean, the tablesaw's older than I am and the way it chugged down when it got stuck on a knot made me fear the worst! But, I replaced the fuse, flipped the switch, and it sprung back to life! What a trooper. Even though I seldom use it, I love that saw!

Next I installed the monstrous curb! I used up the entire tube of liquid nails on gluing the boards together and gluing it to the floor and walls. I also used 12 screws to lock that puppy in place. If that curb were a bridge, I'd have no problems driving my truck over it. It's that solid! All there was left to do was wrap the shower liner over it and nail that into place.

Sunday, I admired what I'd done the previous day for a little while and made sure it was dry. Then, I cut to size the shower pitch guide spokes that you use to make the slope to the drain in the shower floor. The only thing left to do was mud the shower floor and rather than talking about it, how about I just show you? Here it is!

Click the video below. There is sound, just be patient.


As you saw in the video, I nailed a board to the studs and strategically placed some nails to hold the camera in place while it took the video! I was quite surprised how well it worked!

Mudding the shower took me about 45 minutes. Hopefully next week I'll be able to hang the cement board on the walls and start tiling early May!